Aborted is a Belgian brutal death metal band. Characterized by their prominent goregrind influences and the instantly recognizable vocals of mainman Sven de Caluwe, Aborted has worked their way up over the years into becoming one of the biggest names in brutal death metal.

Formed in Beveren, East Flanders in 1995 by Sven de Caluwe (vocals), the band was initially a one-man project that was not intended to be a serious project, but Sven eventually welcomed in Niek Verstraete (guitars), Koen Verstraete (bass), and Steven Logie (drums) in 1997, though Logie left the following year and was replaced by Frank Rosseau; in addition, Christophe Herreman joined in as the second guitarist, creating the The Purity of Perversion lineup. Herreman left in 2000 and was replaced with Thijs de Cloedt the following year. This was the same year that Engineering the Dead hit to widespread acclaim, creating a great deal of interest and setting the stage for Aborted to become the next big thing in death metal. The Verstraete brothers left the following year, however, with Bart Vergaert and Frederic Vanmassenhove replacing them on their respective guitar and bass spots. Rosseau then left not long after as well, with up-and-coming virtuoso drummer Dirk Verbeuren taking his place. This lineup went on to record Goremageddon: The Saw and the Carnage Done, which was instantly hailed as a modern-day classic and firmly catapulted them into the limelight. Verbeuren could not stick around for long due to his myriad other obligations, however, and so Gilles Delecroix was drafted to replace him. The Archaic Abattoir followed in 2005, though the reaction was decidedly more lukewarm due to subtle but noticeable metalcore influences. Cloedt and Vergaert left that same year and were replaced by Stephane Souteyrand and Sebastian Tuvi, though the former left in less than a year and was in turn replaced by Matty Dupont. What followed over the next few albums was an absolutely ludicrous amount of lineup shifts, with many people lasting for less than a year before departing for one reason or another. After the very poor reception that 2008's deathcore-tinged Strychnine.213 received, Caluwe decided that it was time to start everything over with Aborted.

As such, he fired everyone in 2009 and got a completely new lineup in the form of Ken Sorceron, Eran Segal (guitars), and Cole Martinez (bass), along with the return of Verbeuren, though Martinez only stuck around for the recording of the Coronary Reconstruction EP, with JB van der Wal taking over for him. Verbeuren left again in 2010 and was replaced with Ken Bedene, a young student of the drum extraordinaire Mike Heller. Sorceron then left in 2011 and was replaced by Mike Wilson, one of his Abigail Williams bandmates. Recording for a new album started around this time, and the band began to post teasers of it. It was some time during this that van der Wal left, however, and was replaced with Kevin Lary for live shows. Finally, at the beginning of 2012, Global Flatline hit to positive reviews, pushing them back into the limelight; it was also during that year that Wilson and Segal left and were replaced by Danny Tunker and Mendel bij de Leij, with van der Wal rejoining sometime after. Much touring has followed, along with The Necrotic Manifesto, released in April 2014.

Major releases (they have a fairly large discography, so only the important items will be covered):

Creator Backlash: Sven is not overly fond of either The Archaic Abattoir or Slaughter & Apparatus, but songs from the former still show up on setlists on an infrequent basis. The same cannot be said for Strychnine, which he despises and refuses to ever play anything from again.

Early Installment Weirdness: It can be a bit odd to listen to their pre-Goremageddon material, which is much less melodic and less polished than their later work.

Engineering the Dead sort of averts this trope now that it's been remastered to sound more like their later work, but The Purity of Perversion still suffers from this, as it is not only rawer, but is fairly standard brutal death that contains very little of the band's trademark elements.

Lead Bassist: JB is a Type C, as he's the primary songwriter and was responsible for most of Global Flatline, which brought them back into the spotlight.

Mean Character, Nice Actor: Sven writes fairly disgusting and frequently violent lyrics and is known for his commanding presence onstage, but he's also a laid-back, easygoing nerd with a sarcastic sense of humor.

Melodic Death Metal: They've always had melodic overtones, but Abattoir dialed them up. That being said, they certainly aren't a full-fledged example.

Goremageddon featured more complex arrangements and a greater melodic undercurrent.

Abattoir increased the melodic elements and added in some subtle but noticeable metalcore elements.

Strychnine.213 added in very noticeable deathcore elements.

Coronary was something of a return to the Goremageddon sound, which was carried over to Global Flatline and The Necrotic Manifesto.

Noodle Incident: Ken and the tow truck. All that's known is that he parked the van in a tow zone at some point; the finer details aren't known, and he's made it clear that he's not going into detail on them.

Older Than They Look: Ken Bedene is almost 25 and looks like he's in his late teens at most with the exception of his facial hair.

One of Us: Pretty much everyone in the band except maybe JB is known for their love of video games (Sven will play almost anything, Ken loves JRPGs, Mendel loves Battlefield, and Danny is obsessed with Dark Souls and Ni no Kuni), with Sven also being known for his love of the Hellraiser series as well as horror movies in general.

Rapunzel Hair: JB and Danny. Sven used to have this until he presumably started balding and shaved it off.

Revolving Door Band: They've always had steady lineup changes, but come 2005 or 2006, they started going through at least two of them a year.

Signature Style: Jumpy riffs with heavy use of blastbeats, frequent melodic overtones, vocals that go from a deep roar to a yelping screech, and heavy use of movie samples, particularly from the Hellraiser series.

Special Guest: Most of their albums have at least two or three; listing them all would be exhausting. Sven is also a pretty frequent contributor with other bands. They've also had a few session players over the years; Dave Haley played drums on Slaughter & Apparatus, while Etienne Gallo, Nicolas Bastos, Kevin Verlay, and Josh Neale have all served as live session players.

Take That: "Your Entitlement Means Nothing" is a particularly venomous one of these to an unnamed party that is most likely Miri Milman, Sven's ex-wife (he's not saying anything on the matter and doesn't appreciate being asked about it, but there are some details that definitely seem to pinpoint her as the target).

True Companions: With Benighted; additionally, Danny is best buds with ChristianMuenzner. The current lineup also seems to have become this with one another as a whole; multiple bands who have toured with them have noted how they act like a group of very good friends rather than a band offstage.

Vocal Evolution: Sven's lows started out as more of a gurgle and less of a bellow, while his highs were originally somewhat lower and raspier.

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